Naked attacker dies after being shot by Palm Beach County deputy in suburban Delray Beach (VIDEO)

WARNING, IMAGES MIGHT BE DISTURBING

Laura Santos , Jamel Laneé

8:57 PM, Feb 4, 2014

9:36 PM, Feb 5, 2014

Brian Entin reports

WPTV

Suspect shot by deputies

WPTV

Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies say he attacked three people

WPTV

Anesson Joseph, 28, of West Palm Beach.

Courtesy family

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Tony Grein says he was attacked by a naked man who was later shot by Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies.

WPTV

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SUBURBAN DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - WARNING IMAGES OF THE SHOOTING MIGHT BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS

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Three people, including a retired New York police officer, were hurt and hospitalized after a naked man attacked them before he was shot by a deputy, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

The shooting happened around 8:42 p.m. Tuesday outside the security gate of The Colony, a residential community on Modern Drive near South Military Trail in suburban Delray Beach.

Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, said the still unidentified naked man was running down South Military Trail and got into a fight with an elderly man and badly beat him. He kept running and assaulted an 18-year-old outside of the development.

The victim, who identified himself as Tony Grein, told deputies the attacker tried to bite him in the face.

He was out of the hospital Wednesday sporting stitches on ear as well as visible cuts and bruising.

He said he used a box cutter to fend off the man, whom he said was grunting like an animal and trying to get to his sister.

"I can say from personal experience if this guy can take a couple of stab wounds and gun shots and still move and hurt people I think they did what they had to do to protect everyone," Grein said.

The sheriff's office said a ten-year-old boy was hurt trying to flee from the suspect.

When deputies arrived they say the naked man appeared to be "in a state of psychosis."

According to the sheriff's office deputies were unable to reason with the man and they say he got in a fighting stance and charged one of the deputies.

The sheriff said his deputies had no choice but to shoot when the man came at them and a Taser didn't stop him.

"This guy had superhuman strength. He was a big guy to start with. He was at least 6 feet 3 inches and 250 pounds. He was not fat. He was like an NFL linebacker. Basically he was terrorizing people up and down the street," said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

After the shooting the sheriff's office said the attacker continued to move around and even tried to get up.

It said a Palm Beach County Fire Rescue crew tried to treat him but he continued resisting.

The attacker was transported to Delray Medical Center where he died.

PBSO said it's unclear if the man died from gunshot wounds or from possible drugs.

"Pretty insane! It's a good neighborhood with lots of kids. Thank god it was night time. Heard two loud pop pops went outside and a man was laying (sic) at our gate box. We are all locked in the neighborhood by crime scene tape," a resident of the Colony said in a Facebook message.

The man who captured the incident on his cell phone camera says the deputies looked scared.

"There were no high fives from the cops. They didn't want to see this happen. They didn't want to see this end the way it did. It was very clear they were terrified," Robert Friskney said.

Late Wednesday afternoon the sheriff's office identified the suspect as Anesson Joseph, 28, of West Palm Beach.

Brian Entin of NewsChannel 5 and the wptv.com web team contributed to this report.

Copyright 2014 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.